The Unified Modelling Language (UML)

Matrice has supported and encouraged the adoption of a standard visual notation for software engineering. In the OO world the adoption of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) by the OMG seems to have provided the software industry with an industry standard, even if many methodologists and gurus have had their noses put collectively out of joint. Matrice offers specific UML training courses.

A Short History

By 1993 there were many, many “object-oriented” notations. For example:

• Booch
• Coad-Yourdon
• Fusion
• Martin-Odell
• OMT
• OOSE
• Shlaer-Mellor

And those were just the ones that seemed to enjoy some degree of take-up. It looked as though object-oriented methods were going to suffer a worse “tower of Babel” than the structured methods did.

The two most popular methods were probably OMT and Booch. Booch had been trying to get methodologists together for a unification. In 1994, James Rumbaugh (OMT) joined the same organisation as Booch -- Rational. The two of them began work on what was then called the Unified Method. Roughly speaking, OMT contributed:

• Acceptability (Booch had chosen an unusual symbol for classes and objects -- the "cloud" -- which many were unable to take seriously. OMT had stuck with the more sober rectangle.)
• Rich notation for analysis and early-design models
• Credibility for the management and business communities

And Booch contributed:

• Technology and design soundness
• Rich notation for detailed design models
• Credibility for the scientific and technical communities

First Release

In October 1995, version 0.8 of the Unified method was released. It appeared that the timing was right. Just about everyone welcomed the idea of a unification and the Unified Method began to be talked about and began to appear as the notation used in several papers. Matrice adopted the notation for its generic object-oriented analysis and design courses.

Jacobson Joins

In the autumn of 1995 Ivar Jacobson joined Rational. Jacobson had developed his own Object-Oriented Software Engineering method. It included two key techniques that many, including Matrice, had come to regard as crucial augmentations of the first generation of OO methods:

• Use cases
• Object interaction modelling

Many of his ideas were incorporated and with laudable honesty, the Unified Method was renamed the Unified Modelling Language (UML). Versions 0.9 and 0.91 of the UML were released in June and October of 1996.

Interest, take-up, comments and suggestions continued, and in 1996, the Object Management Group (OMG) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a modelling language. Rational and Digital Equipment Corp., HP, i-Logix, IntelliCorp, IBM, ICON Computing, MCI Systemhouse, Microsoft, Oracle, Rational Software, TI, and Unisys, submitted the next version of the UML (UML 1.0) as a proposal to the OMG in January 1997.

There were other proposals -- IBM & ObjecTime; Platinum Technology; Ptech; Taskon & Reich Technologies -- but the others joined Rational, et al and a UML Partners consortium was formed. Together they worked on more unification (and more content), and UML 1.1 was submitted to the OMG for their consideration for adoption, in September 1997.

Other Contributions To UML 1.1

The new collaborators have worked on:

• Scalability
• Concurrency
• Distribution
• Re-use
• Formality

And IBM have contributed an Object Constraint Language (OCL) based on Syntropy.

Adoption Continues To Grow

Widespread adoption of teh UML has been achieved since the release of 1.1. Books and papers are increasingly using UML for their illustrations, most CASE tools are providing a UML option, and methods that had their own notation will probably follow Shlaer-Mellor's example:

"It is inevitable however that UML notations will become an industry wide standard and that use of alternative notations, such as the original Shlaer-Mellor notations, will become increasingly rare." Project Technology, originators of Shlaer-Mellor.

UML Adopted by OMG (Object Mangement Group)

The UML is now the chosen notation of the OMG. Since its adoption, improvements have continued, via an OMG Revision Task Force and is currently at version 1.3.

UML 2

A Revision Task Force has been working on Version 2 of the UML. Matrice has been providing input.

UML Goals

• Provide users a ready-to-use, expressive visual modelling language so they can develop and exchange meaningful models
• Enable the modelling of systems (and not just software) using object-oriented concepts
• Provide extensibility and specialisation mechanisms to extend the core concepts
• Be independent of particular programming languages and development processes
• Provide a formal basis for understanding the modelling language
• Encourage the growth of the OO tools market
• Support higher-level development concepts such as collaborations, frameworks, patterns, and components
• Integrate best practices
• Address the issues of scale inherent in complex, mission-critical systems
• Create a modelling language usable by both humans and machines

Composition and Organisation

• Use case diagram
• Class diagram
• Behaviour diagrams
• Statechart diagram
• Activity diagram
• Interaction diagrams
• Sequence diagram
• Collaboration diagram
• Implementation diagrams
• Component diagram
• Deployment diagram

Matrice has courses specifically on the UML and in addition, all of our analysis and design courses now use the UML. Bear in mind that the UML is only a notation; to be successful with it, you will need a defined and repeatable process (a "method"). The "Object-Oriented Analysis and Design" and the "Object-Oriented Analysis and Design using the UML" courses both present our process model which is both thorough and pragmatic.

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